Welfare

It was recently reported that we have more people in the wagon than we have pulling the wagon. The people on Medicare and social security are not counted as part of those in the wagon group since they have paid for those benefits. Those in the wagon are referred to as, “means tested”, which means that the benefits they receive are free and based on their income. Just how much these benefits are costing the tax payer may surprise many people. The 80 overlapping means tested programs cost about 750 billion dollars per year which makes them the single largest item in the budget, more than social security, Medicare or defense. These costs do not include an additional 250 billion from the states. 95% of these costs are in four categories, medical assistance, cash assistance, food assistance and housing assistance. If you divide the total cost by the number of households receiving benefits it comes to $168 per day as compared to the average working family income of $137. In addition these benefits are slated to increase by 30% over the next four years.